livebooks blog

If online visibility for your website is what you want, proper SEO is what you need

Your website is relevant, your portfolios are updated, your photography is flawless; so how come so few come to visit? It all comes down to that super popular fellow who only listens to bits of your story, but is excited to share all info it has on you to whomever will ask – the search engine.

Yes, it’s definitely your friend, as long as it gets to know you. Introducing SEO, the one thing every photography website owner knows they need, but not too many actually accommodate it. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the information laid out for the algorithms that skim through each published page, indexing them. They go from link to link and figure out what each website is about, how reliable it is and thus, how relevant it is for the online seeker.

According to what keywords you’ve used in the SEO fields, it will determine a ranking for your website. You already have a great photography website, but does the SEO formula agree? There are a few things you can do to put your foot in google search’s door and say “Alright, I’m here!”

It’s SEO Everything™ time!

The liveBooks websites are all about ease of access to your content, and SEO fits right in the whole scenario. It’s a platform used mainly by photography professionals, a career that stresses on the visual advantage over linguistics, which usually makes indexing a little harder, but we have many ways to go around that. It’s called SEO Everything and it truly is everything you need to get your photography website running at the speed of SEO. (There’s no such measurement unit, but we figure it’s fast. Superfast.)

First things first: check that your website will be indexed by search engines. This feature is automatically turned on, but we’ll go ahead and double-check just in case.

1. Go to settings, then click on the SEO tab.
2. While we’re here, let’s make sure that your website title and description are filled in. We’re determined to make the title visible for search engines, so our advice is to make it easy to read: business name + the keyword that describes your field of work (“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” is a great example, even though we’re positive it wasn’t intentional). What you write in the description is up to you. This is the place where keywords are not important and it’s the only place where you don’t need to worry about google’s piercing scanners. The description appears under your website name in search results. (http://goo.gl/3HBg5R)
3. We can now proceed to the reason why we’re here: the first field in the search settings field. You want your website to be found, so the first option should be turned on. (http://goo.gl/cENHbu)
4. Finally, scroll down to the last field, Schema.org, and choose the appropriate organization type to be featured by this tool in indexing your website. (http://goo.gl/HkQJAU)

SEO for your pages

Now we’re ready to take on the great adventure of page and image SEO. This is an important journey to make, since we’re dealing with a photography website where written content is usually scarce. To give an overall perspective, the SEO algorithms behave best in a page containing around 600 words, so we’ll have to make up for it if you choose to let your photography do the talking without inserting text blocks to your galleries. Still, a few words are in order here, a few well written and descriptive words which will serve as your copy-paste material for the keywords field and will never again be seen on your website.

Before you move any further, get writing! Remember, capitalization is unimportant here, but spacing and spelling is. The recipe for a proper keyword sequence is keyword comma space keyword comma space and so on. (ex. wedding photography, engagement photography, ceremony photography in AZ, etc.)

In your content area click on a page and you’ll see a SEO & Settings dropdown field on the right side. This is where you stunning copy-paste skills will come in handy. Fill in these blocks with the keywords and description you’ve set. Do this for all pages. It’s tedious, we know, but you only do it once. Okay, you do it every time you create a new page or item, but trust us, it matters.

SEO for your photos

Now, we’ve said SEO Everything and we mean it! Don’t think we forgot the most important actors in your show: the photographs. In your image library click on the eye icon that appears when you hover over with your mouse and you’ll see a pop-up with the image info. We’ll focus on the first two fields: the title and the description. liveBooks allows google to index this info even if you choose not to show it on your website with the image info on hover option. This is a great feature that not all photography platforms can take pride in having, so we’re boosting over here.

1. Fill in the title first; it should be descriptive (sunset wedding on Cape cod, floral arrangement at reception, newly weds take wows, etc.).
   Notice how the examples we’ve given contain more words connected to your business, not just photography. That’s because as much as you want people to find you for their specific need, you also wouldn’t mind to have a prospective client bump into your work while googling for a flower arrangement and finding a great photographer to capture the spirit of their big event. and coming back to our buddy google and its power to validate your website, this is a great way to convince it that you are a proper professional who understands the entire ensemble of your work field.
2. The description, on the other hand, can differ from image to image and it is up to you to make it as detailed as you want to give an even bigger picture.

Extra tips

• You should have one website for your business so that google doesn’t get mislead
• If you’re doing a blog, use your website as the platform for it instead of an external page. Feel free to use outside links to projects.
• Keeping track of your ranking and optimal keywords is a must when reaching for a greater audience. The liveBooks professional plan includes real-time analytics, so you won’t have to bother with 3rd party tools.
• Changes won’t happen straight away, it takes time for the algorithms to find your updates and index them.

Jerry Zolynsky of On Location Photography, professional business imaging, has been a photographer since 1980. He became interested in photography when he won a camera in a poker game! After that, he was hooked. After graduating from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism with an emphasis on photography, Jerry wanted to expand his photography knowledge. He was hired by one of the largest in house production photo studios in the midwest where he learned studio lighting.

Jerry’s client list includes some European car companies as well as US fortune 500 businesses. He also does photography for local and smaller businesses. He like the challenge of different things to shoot because it “motivates me to learn new techniques.”

Q&A with Jerry Zolynsky

Q1:How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

JZ: The way I would describe my website in three words is…sleek, compelling and contemporary.

Q2 How often do you typically update your website?

JZ: I update my website whenever I feel I have a photo that I feel is strong enough to display. Typically once a month. Out with the old and in with the new.

Q3: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

JZ: Finding photos for my homepage is a twofold process. First I look for photos that I feel reflect the work that I do best and secondly I like to display work that I enjoy photographing most.

Q4: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks?

JZ: My favorite feature of liveBooks is the edit suite. I love the convenience and the layout of it. I also have to mention the tech support. It is so nice to be able to have a one-on-one support session over the phone. It makes a big difference in making the site look the way I want in a timely fashion. In this day and age where a website is the photographer’s portfolio and clients want to see work that pertains to their business right away, I have to be able to get photos displayed quickly. If there is ever an issue I can talk to a real human being instead of writing an email and waiting 24 to 48 hours for a response.

Q5: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

JZ: The one thing I would advise photographers designing their websites is to display your best work. If you don’t feel strongly about the image or you’re on the fence about it…don’t show it. Play-up what you feel are your strengths and what you enjoy photographing most.

Believe in yourself and never give up. When I just started out a friend of mine told me that I would never make a living as a professional photographer. He said it was too competitive and I would never make it. He is still at the same auto parts store he has been working at for the past 25 years. See more from Jerry Zolynsky here.

Babs Armour’s entry into photography took place mid-career when she decided to leave her work as a teacher and return to the world of art, which had been a major focus when she was young. Babs was fortunate enough to study with a number of outstanding photographers and, in a short time, she was featured in shows and was winning awards. Today, her images are in corporate as well as private collections, and her work continues to grow and evolve!

Her signature “Store Windows”, her portfolio – which reflects the influence of her early years spent painting in New England towns and seaports – includes a series depicting Oyster farmers in Wellfleet, MA and images from New England to Paris.

Q&A with Babs Armour Photography

Q1: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

BA: Clean, elegant, inviting.

Q2. How often do you typically update your website?

BA: Now that I have liveBooks, I find myself updating whenever I have new images, want to update a portfolio or decide to make a small change in the design of a page or the site. That’s what’s so great about the new format.

Q3. How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

BA: I choose an image that is truly representative of my work and change it on a regular basis.

Q4. What is your favorite feature of liveBooks?

BA: The ease in uploading photos, creating galleries, and editing and tweaking design elements. It’s all just so user friendly!

Q5. What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

BA: Be clear about your priorities and choose images carefully keeping in mind the viewers you want to attract.

I’m really thrilled with liveBooks and feel that the ease of using it will mean that my site is not static, but will be constantly evolving as my work grows and evolves! See more of Babs Armour’s work here: www.babsarmour.com

Victor Koroma is based in Los Angeles and considers himself a mixed media photographer that thinks like a painter. His work aims to find the beauty in everyday recognizable objects. Transforming them beyond their banality into objects of desire that encourage you to think of them in new ways.

Mixed media photography. Contemporary pop. It blurs the boundary of what photography is by mixing it with other mediums. Utilizing elements of paintings, illustrations, and photography. He started hovering around the photo industry when Hearst Magazine International reached out to him with a request from Esquire Ru to published some photographs in print from one of his series on one of their issues. But overall, he would say that at times, he thinks he was genetically born with an eye for photography that skateboarding, art school, and working have helped him develop.

Q&A with Victor Koroma

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

VK: Minimal. Organized. Clean.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

VK: Though my eyes aggressively tend to comb over it weekly in attempt to spot any aspects I find annoying or irritating that I want to adjust there’s not a specific time frame I have. Apart from that I normally only make updates on either two occasions. One. I have brought a new series to fruition which i would like to share. Two. A new piece of information presents itself that needs to be either added or corrected in some fashion.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

VK: This was a head ache inducing issue I thought about for sometime actually. I approached the design of my homepage by placing myself in the perspective of the person viewing it. I asked myself, what images would entice a viewer to spend more time on my website? What images would best represent my work and communicate my overall vision? The images on my site currently answer those questions. Whenever I come across new images that are more of a representation of that vision, i replace them. In totality, the images on my homepage are a means to the end of alluring.

Q: What is your favorite feature of liveBooks8?

VK: I mostly enjoy the amount of control I have with the seemingly endless customization tools.

See more of Victor’s work: www.victorkphotography.com